As Utahns set forth on their new year’s goals and resolutions, there is one that I hope the Utah Legislature and Gov. Spencer Cox will set as a priority for the upcoming legislative session: End partisan state school board elections.
The recent report from The Salt Lake Tribune that showed Utah state school board members met in a closed door caucus following the most recent election should ring alarm bells across the state of Utah. While this was a first — it was the first time in Utah’s history that Republican state school board leaders met together as a political body — this is not a cause for celebration.
Because this was a closed door political caucus, which excluded members of the board and the public, the participating school board members not only held a non-transparent meeting but were being hypocritical to our state educational standards of neutrality.
Not only were some members of the board not present for discussions about the upcoming board meetings, but neither were you or I.
President George Washington warned against the divisiveness and self-serving aspirations of political parties and factions within his farewell address. James Madison also cautioned against political factions within his famous Federalist Papers #10.
Partisan state school board elections do not build trust in our leadership within our integral system of education. They only cause confusion and doubt. Sadly, having elected officials that run for office under a political party may cause some within our state to question whether decision making occurring within the state school board is being driven by political ideology or by research supported evidence.
As an educator, I have met and worked with many of the members of the state school board, and I know that they have each student’s achievement and success as their focus. They are good people. However, the fact that we were not notified about the meeting or able to attend along with all members of the board shows the muddiness that partisan school board member elections creates.
There is a simple solution to rebuilding trust and transparency in the institution of education: Remove the partisan affiliation within state school board elections. This will avoid closed conversation and exclusion that political parties can create because they are not considered a “public body”. It would hopefully undo any threads of doubt that partisan elections may have already been sewn into our state.
When open dialogue and collaboration happens, Utah has shown that good policy and practice are established.
Over the last decade, one of the most dividing conversations happening within the public sphere has been about curriculum transparency. Unsubstantiated claims about biased or partisan instruction have been made in many communities. As a history and government teacher, I cannot tell you how many people have made comments to me over the past decade along the lines of, “I cannot imagine teaching history right now,” or “How do you teach about government right now?” I always reply that all public education teachers have professional practice standards set by the Utah Legislature and the Utah State School Board to maintain neutrality within instruction. Not only do we, as educators, have a policy that guides our lessons, keeping personal and political belief to ourselves is prerequisite for employment.
Additionally, the Utah Office of Education has a phenomenal and transparent core curriculum development, review and approval process that educators, members of the public and state officials can participate in and give feedback to when each content area’s curriculum is being developed for implementation in our schools.
Every public school classroom in Utah adheres to these policies and laws that were openly developed that allowed community members to ask questions, provide feedback and be an active part of our democracy.
Utah can not lose the transparency and trust that is vital to continuing and building our public education system. The partisan state school board elections have only been implemented since 2020. The Utah Legislature and governor have the opportunity to show their constituents and the nation that avoiding partisan ideology in education begins by removing party affiliation for any candidate running for the the state school board. Some might even say it will have a trickle down effect.
I hope that our Utah Legislature and Gov. Cox heed this New Years Resolution: End partisan state school board elections. Ensure trust, transparency and public involvement in public education.
(William Shields) William Shields is a social studies teacher-leader who inspires and motivates students to be engaged learners and extend their learning into our communities.
William Shields is a social studies teacher-leader who inspires and motivates students to be engaged learners and extend their learning into our communities. He currently is a Hope Street Group — Utah Teacher fellow and advocates for cross content civic education, connecting with stakeholders and building networks of support with law and policy makers. Follow William on X at @TheMrShields.
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